This invention relates to a bicycle, particularly to the type in which at least one wheel is resiliently supported by means of a fork-shaped rocker articulated to the bicycle frame or to a component supported by the bicycle frame.
In motor driven two-wheel vehicles it is known to articulate both the front wheel and the rear wheel to the vehicle frame by means of separate, fork-shaped rockers which, in turn, are supported by the vehicle frame with the interposition of spring means. The latter, which may be combined with shock absorbers, are disposed in the terminal zone of the two fork arms of each rocker. The fork arms also serve for supporting the wheel bearings. Such a structure, however, is feasible only in motor-driven vehicles because these, on the one hand, have a relatively small wheel diameter and, on the other hand, the weight increase due the arrangement of two spring elements for each wheel is without practical significance, because of the relatively large power of even small motor bicycles. These considerations, however, cannot apply in muscle-propelled bicycles where the effect of the relatively large additional weight of such structures is substantial. Further, arrangements known in connection with motor driven two-wheel vehicles cannot be transferred to bicycles because, due to the substantially larger wheel diameters, the particular arrangement of brakes, etc., requires different geometrical and structural conditions.